Not surprisingly, it seems that print yellow page phone books still work. Usually, when a new form of media arrives on the scene, it doesn’t replace another form of media but just adds another dimension.

One caveat is that I’m not sure how long yellow page phone books will continue to be printed. But as long as they are printed, they will probably still work.

When the yellow pages calls to sell you an ad, you might want to give it some thought before saying No Thanks.

Bar 3 Bar-B-Q, a Montana restaurant, found themselves listed for free under the “Animal Carcass Removal” section in the local yellow pages after they refused to buy an advertisement in the phone book.

The listing was a featured joke on the Jay Leno TV show. Bar 3 Bar-B-Q alleged the salesman intentionally placed the free listing because of their refusal to buy an ad and Bar 3 Bar-B-Q’s parent company, Big Sky Beverage Inc., sued the yellow book publisher Dex Media Inc. The suit was settled confidentially.

Update: The Yellow Pages are nearing an end and marketing guru (former giant in the Yellow Page industry) Dick Larkin has a new website for marketing Commandomarketing.com

I’ve wanted to write another article about the Yellow Pages, but want to get a quick note out about a FREE webinar tomorrow (the webinar is over, but you can still read useful yellow page and marketing information by Dick Larkin).

The webinar is moderated by Dick Larkin, the Yellow Pages Commando who is a nationally known expert who formerly worked in the Yellow Pages industry and for the last couple of years has been a proponent of online “yellow page” advertising.

I get calls every week from lawyers saying they’re not getting calls anymore from yellow page advertising. They don’t want to continue wasting their money, but they’re afraid to stop advertising and lose their spot. They want to know what’s going on and what to do.

Apparently, lawyers are not the only ones. In his article “Quit wasting money on Yellow Page advertising” by Peter Fernandez, D.C., a yellow page, print advertising and practice management consultant for chiropractors, Dr. Fernandez answers the question, “Why has advertising in the Yellow Pages changed from one of the best ways to advertise to one of the worst in just a few years?”

Yellow page telephone books are distributed within small geographic areas which may be ideal for lawyer advertising, when the lawyer is not interested in clients residing more than 30 minutes from the law office. There are small yellow page books encompassing one or more villages and larger countywide yellow page books. Costco® is able to offer low prices because they buy products in very large quantities. Similarly, the more people advertising reaches, the less it costs per person, but the more it costs overall. Advertising in a county-wide yellow page telephone book is more cost-effective than in a village yellow book, but more expensive. Advertising on radio will reach more people than a yellow page book, while advertising on local TV will reach still more people. The most expensive and most cost-effective advertising is national TV which will reach the most number of people.